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LOS ANGELES >> There’s a reason certain teams are here this week for the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship. It’s called talent.
That was evidenced on Monday with the announcement of the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s All-America teams.
Players from five of the six teams still in contention for the national title dominated the first- and second-team selections, with 15 out of the 24 picked. UCLA led all schools with five players, three on the first team, while Hawaii, top-seeded Long Beach State and second-seeded Ball State had three each, and Pepperdine one.
Long Beach State, the Big West regular-season champion, also had the Newcomer of the Year in freshman hitter Alex Nikolov.
The Rainbow Warriors, the Big West tournament winners, saw junior setter Jakob Thelle improve from honorable mention in 2021 to become Hawaii’s lone first-team pick. He also was the BWC Player of the Year and is in contention for the national honor, which will be announced Wednesday.
The Warriors were told of the selections after Sunday’s practice at the Wooden Center. They also celebrated the second-team honors for sophomore middle Guilherme Voss and sophomore hitter Spyros Chakas. Sophomore opposite Dimitrios Mouchlias was one of 30 honorable mentions.
Hawaii graduated three first-teamers and one second-teamer from the 2021 championship squad. Only Thelle returned.
“I think it speaks to the quality of players we have,” Warriors coach Charlie Wade said Monday. “It’s interesting to me that we had four last year and almost had four new ones.
“It’s a whole new group of guys who have emerged as some of the best players in the country.”
Thelle, Voss and outside hitter Chaz Galloway were the only returning starters from 2021. Chakas played in 15 matches last season with four starts, while Mouchlias sat out 2021, rehabbing from double ankle surgery in his native Greece.
“It’s a huge honor,” Thelle said Monday. “It’s all about team success. I can’t thank my teammates enough.”
Thelle ranks 11th nationally in assist average (9.97) and has the Warriors hitting .340, fifth-best in the country. He also has 51 aces, four shy of passing Mark Presho and Clay Stanley for the UH single-season record. Pedro Azenha holds the rally-scoring-era single-season mark with 53.
He and Chakas (39 aces) are part of the reason Hawaii has shattered the single-season team record for aces with 203. The previous mark was 174, set in 2019. The pre-rally-scoring record is 226, set in 1996, the only other year that the Warriors were in an NCAA Tournament hosted by UCLA.
Also named honorable mention was Punahou graduate Ryan Wilcox, a junior hitter at UC Santa Barbara.
Oh, baby
Warriors assistant coach Josh Walker and wife Tehane welcomed their fourth child Friday. Keahi’anapa John Adrien Walker was due this Thursday, Boys Day, but arrived a day before his father was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles and the NCAA Tournament.
Off the Block finalists
Hawaii setter Jakob Thelle is a finalist for three awards and middle Guilherme Voss two out of the 11 that Off The Block will announce Friday.
For the second straight year, Thelle is one of three finalists for the Lloy Ball Award, presented to the nation’s best setter. The Norwegian national also is a finalist for the Nicolas Szerszen Award, which honors the nation’s best non-U.S. born player. Thelle is also up for National Server of the Year Award.
Voss is a first-time finalist for the Ryan Millar Award, which is presented to the nation’s best middle attacker, and the National Blocker of the Year Award. The Brazilian national ranks No. 2 nationally in blocking (1.36), while his .487 hitting percentage would rank No. 4 nationally if he he had enough attempts to qualify for ranking.
Rinse, Repeat
Hawaii is seeking to become the fifth consecutive team to successfully win two NCAA straight championships. The string began with UC Irvine, the Anteaters doing so with two different coaches: current UCLA coach John Speraw (2012) and current coach David Kniffin (2013).
It continued with Loyola Chicago (2014-15), Ohio State (2016-17) and Long Beach State (2018-19). The 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19.
All-MPSF matchup
Today’s first match pits Mountain Pacific Sports Federation rivals UCLA (21-4) and Pepperdine (19-9). It is the first time since the tournament expanded from four teams that teams from the same conference will meet in the second round. Last year, Big West rivals Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara played against each other in a semifinal.
This also is the first time that the Bruins and Waves have met in the tournament since 2005, when Pepperdine outlasted UCLA in five at Pauley Pavilion. It is the seventh time that the Bruins and Waves will meet in the tournament and the first when it hasn’t been in the final.
The MPSF is 3-4 in the tournament since it expanded in 2014.
Making history
Sunday’s 40-38 Set 3 win by North Greenville against Princeton was the longest in NCAA Tournament history. The Crusaders needed 10 match points to sweep the Tigers, giving Conference Carolinas its first tournament victory in seven appearances. The Conference was 1-18 in NCAA Tournament sets prior to Sunday.
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